Conor McGregor wanted one major thing when he sat down with the media after his second world title win, and almost a decade later he is giving it to his fighters.
When the Irishman defeated Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title at UFC 205, his history-making performance was so much more groundbreaking than could have been expected. Within months the UFC had sold for $4billion to WME-IMG, and his career as a top fighter never returned to those heights.
At the time, he demanded equity in the company, knowing that he was a massive player in getting it to the point of that monster valuation. And he is now putting his money where his mouth is, offering fighters the chance to own a part of his promotion; BKFC.
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Conor McGregor offers part ownership to BKFC champions
Watching BKFC’s massive and at times overcrowded press conference on Thursday night, one could be forgiven for missing some of the many announcements peppered in by owners David Feldman and Conor McGregor.
From new signings like Yoel Romero and Derek Brunson to international shows in the UK and Rome, there was a seemingly never-ending list of breaking news stories from the duo.
But perhaps the most impactful came when Feldman opened up about an alternative to the promotion’s plan to implement a pension for fighters. He had first announced the idea years ago, but admitted it was a struggle to make it happen.
Instead, the alternative that he and McGregor came up with was to offer any BKFC champions and long-tenured fighters a piece of equity in the promotion itself. He valued the potential ownership shares at anywhere from $100,000 to $3million for the longest-serving champions.
“Do you understand how incredible that is for our combatants to be rewarded in that way?” McGregor asked the gathered crowd. “To join this rise truly, truly be on the board with us as we rise up this ladder of combat sport.”
Conor McGregor pleaded for UFC equity after helping company to $4billion sale
Back in 2016 after his win over Alvarez, the post-fight press conference at Madison Square Garden was full of questions about McGregor’s future in the cage. He had just won two world titles in less than a year and had brought the sport back to New York City, where it was banned for so many years.
“They’ve got to come talk to me now because nobody has come and talked to me since the sale has happened,” he told media at the time. “As a business man I’ve been approached as a ‘hello’ and that sort of thing but I’ve earned something.
“Who owns the company now? People have shares in the company, celebrities. Conan O’Brien owns the UFC now so where’s my share? Where’s my equity? If I’m the one that’s bringing this, they’ve got to come talk to me now.
“I’ve got both belts, a chunk of money, a little family on the way. You want me to stick around, you want me to keep doing what I’m doing? Let’s talk, but I want ownership now, I want equal share, I want what I deserve, what I’ve earned.”
It’s clear that the fact such an offer never came still affects McGregor greatly to this day. He touched on it briefly during the press conference, noting that he felt he ‘got nothing’ from the UFC even despite his multiple eight-figure paydays and massive celebrity status.
“For me, I fought my heart and soul and gave everything to the rise of a company and I got nothing for it,” he said. “Now here we are, our company, my company, we give back to the fighters who bleed for us. So welcome to the owners’ table our world champions and our UK champions, we are in this forever.”